A few things I've finished...

Just a few more things I've completed. It's actually taken me the better part of a month to finish them but they are completed as of today. Yay! Both are watercolor and ink. I'm not sure of titles for the pieces yet. Maybe you have some suggestions?

Here are a couple blogs I've linked to. Drop by and enjoy all the wonderful, creative splendor!

Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins

My wonderful and super talented lil' sis asked me to stop byand share something pumpkin related this week for “Pumpkinspiration” and I washappy to oblige. BUT, given the state ofmy life right now it’s break neck pace I had certain criteria my pumpkinproject had to meet. First I didn’t havetime to go out and find materials. Second, I didn’t want to spend any money on said materials. Third, it had to take me one sitting,because, of course, I don’t have time for much more than that, not to mentionpatience (I don’t have much of that either). So I chose a throw pillow. Hereit is:

Sort of cute. Iactually like it. And very easy.

First I looked through my stash and found the fabric Iwanted to use. I also had fiber fill soI spent zero dollars on my project. Here’s the fabric I picked out:

I cut my orange fabric into strips of different widths. I cut a rectangle out of the green fabric, aswell as three strips.

I sewed my orange strips together length wise, placing rightsides together and stitching a quick seam. I did this with all of them. Ipressed my seams and turned my “pieced” fabric over. Nice.

Then I cut two large squares from my gray knit fabric. I drew a pumpkin shape, including stem, outon one of the large knit squares with a fabric marker.

Then I pinned myorange fabric, right side up against the back of my knit where the pumpkin wasdrawn out, and the green rectangle, right side up against the back of my knitwhere the stem was drawn out.

I sewed a quick running stitch just on the outer edge of mydrawing. I removed pins and used ascissors to cut my gray knit pumpkin and stem out to reveal the cute orange andgreen fabric underneath. It’s a reverseappliqué.

I gathered my three green strips and sewed them on below mypumpkin to look like vines.

I pinned my two gray knit squares, right sides together andsewed around the perimeter. I left asmall opening, turned my pillow right side out, stuffed it, and sewed ittogether by hand. There you haveit! Easy. Fast. And kind of cute. And zero dollars spent. Happiness all round. Today when she saw it, my daughter asked meif it was hers or mommy’s. Smile.

Last Weekend

We're enjoying a pretty great autumn around these parts. (We had a very brief little cold snap for about, oh I don't know, threeish days but other than that...beautiful.) Our grass is green and lush, the temps have been warm but not too warm, the leaves are turning all kinds of wonderful, and I'm loving it. Tonight, as I'm typing this I can hear the pitter patter of a gentle rain. It smells like autumn. It looks like autumn. But it feels like early summer days. I hope it lasts just a little bit longer. Last weekend we decided to get out of town to see the colors. We took Pumpkin on a hike. She super-duper loved it! Her favorite part was running off the trail and climbing up the rocks and over tree trunks, tripping all the way. These are some pics from our adventure. Right out of the camera...

These two

When things get crazy around here these two keep me grounded. These two keep me going. These two keep me smiling. These two make my world go round...I love these two.

Whew!

Well...yesterday I hit another personal best. Five miles. Of my slow and awkward running. Graceful I am not. (As I've stated many times before...openly.) It took me about an hour. I can't believe I ran for an hour. I also can't believe how crappy I felt when I was done. It's crazy because I felt like a rock star when I hit four miles several weeks ago. For some reason five was just too much for me. We'll see if I do that again any time soon. I'll have to wait a few days and maybe I'll forget...and try it again. Or maybe I'll just stick with four miles for a while.

The Tree of Life

Here's the latest. I really love this one. A lot. There is a bible reference that follows the circumference of the circle around the tree. It's from the Book of Daniel, chapter 4: 10-12.

"...I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great. The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth: The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it."

I like the symbolism in this verse. If you look at the context from which this is taken it's actually a dream of King Nebuchadnezzar’s that Daniel interprets. It's a fantastic dream. I love to think of a place, bountiful, full of beauty and peace, where all might feel safe and well fed. Physically and spiritually well fed. I take comfort in the thought that our Father's love, just like this tree, is big enough
for all of us.


I'm participating in We Did It! Wednesday. Go check it out. Tons of wonderful stuff and very creative people.

I Did It!!!

I just had to document this day...

I ran four miles today. This is something I've never done before. While this may be no big deal for many people, probably tons of people the world over, it's a huge, ginormous deal for me. I've always had issues with strenuous activity, stamina, etc. This is due in large part to heart problems I've had since birth. Without going into much detail I will say this: I asked my cardiologist this summer if I could run a half marathon this fall and he said no. He told me that I was at a much higher risk than other heart patients. So I let that goal fall to the wayside. Bummer. But I've continued to run and increase my distance. Granted I don't run fast. And it's not pretty to watch I'm sure. But I don't care. I'm at four miles! (I'm patting myself on the back RIGHT NOW.)